Tavis Smiley announced a bevy of new projects, including a new television series, less than a month after being ousted by PBS amid allegations of sexual misconduct. In a Facebook video posted Monday afternoon, Smiley said his new weekly online series The Upside With Tavis Smiley will celebrate the spirit of resilience, the power to overcome that resides in each of us. He said the show would be distributed by the Word Network, which bills itself as the largest African-American religious network in the world. The show is expected to debut in the spring. We are thrilled to have Tavis...

Walmart and a book distributor distanced themselves from Tavis Smiley on Thursday after PBS said an investigation found troubling allegations of sexual misconduct by the radio and TV host. The moves came a day after PBS said it was suspending Smiley following an independent investigation by a law firm. PBS said the firm uncovered multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS. His shows page at PBS was scrubbed on Thursday. Smiley has denied any wrongdoing. Walmart, which had been a sponsor of Smileys talk show and an upcoming touring theatrical show, cut...

Have you noticed how the word ÂmisconductÂ has become the go-to synonym for a lot of words that used to mean distinctly different things? For example: Sexual assault/abuse has been rebranded as Âsexual misconductÂ in order to be more inclusive. The ramifications for any behavior along this newly established spectrum appears to be the same: immediate assumption of guilt and swift excommunication. Among the latest victims: PBS is ÂindefinitelyÂ suspending distribution of the late-night talk show ÂTavis SmileyÂ after multiple misconduct allegations emerged against the show's 53-year-old host, PBS announced Wednesday. Tavis Smiley excoriated PBS late Wednesday for suspending distribution...

Suspended PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley insisted on Thursday that sexual harassment allegations him are untrue. I have the utmost respect for women and celebrate the courage of those who have come forth to tell their truth, he posted on Facebook shortly after midnight. To be clear, I have never groped, coerced, or exposed myself inappropriately to any workplace colleague in my entire broadcast career.

PBS has suspended late-night talk show Tavis Smiley amid misconduct allegations against its host and namesake. Effective today, PBS has indefinitely suspended distribution of Tavis Smiley, produced by TS Media, an independent production company, the public broadcaster said. PBS engaged an outside law firm to conduct an investigation immediately after learning of troubling allegations regarding Mr. Smiley. This investigation included interviews with witnesses as well as with Mr. Smiley. The inquiry uncovered multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS, and the totality of this information led to todays decision.

Appearing as a guest on Monday's Tavis Smiley show on PBS, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof lamented that the media "truly wronged" Jimmy Carter and were "profoundly unfair" to him while he was President, due to "snobbishness" by the media. He also seemed happy to report that Hillary Clinton's personality has improved since her electoral loss, as the liberal columnist also recalled that she implicated "misogyny" in her loss when he met recently with the former Democratic candidate. Early in the interview, after host Smiley asked about a recent interview with former President Carter in which the topic of...

All four suspects in the Chicago torture video now face charges of aggravated battery, hate crimes and kidnapping. See Jordon, Tesfaye, Brittany and Tanishia. See the crime they committed. See how swift justice is dispensed when the perpetrators, rather than the victims, are black. Im having such a hard time trying to compartmentalize my feelings about the videotaped torture of this precious young man. Let me tell you why.

Donald Trumps Make America great again slogan and this Republican Congress's actions raise unanswered questions Recently I appeared at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn., for a talk entitled Making America As Good As Its Promise. So you dont confuse the theme of my talk with the slogan of a particular presidential campaign, let me delineate the difference. When I hear Donald Trump suggest that he wants to make America great again, it always triggers the same three questions in my head. One: How is Trump defining greatness? Im not sure he and I share an understanding of what makes a...

This could go down as the most egregious example of an MSM anchor groveling at the feet of a liberal activist . . . During MSNBCs coverage of the opening night of the Republican convention, Tavis Smiley complained that, unlike cop killers, killer cops are not called vicious and despicable and cowardly and reprehensible. Brian Williams immediately piped up: Tavis, if I appointed you president and you still refused to run we would have to appoint you. Im guessing Williams meant to say if I nominated you for president you and you refused to run we would have to appoint...

Republican front-running presidential candidate Donald Trump hit back at prolific talk-show host Tavis Smiley, who called him âan unrepentant, irascible, religious and racial arsonistâ on a recent episode of This Week on ABC. That Smiley would discuss Trumpâs perceived racial arson is not surprising considering he was appearing on George Stephanopoulosâs show to discuss his latest book, The Covenant With Black America: Ten Years Later. As Smileyâs book tour rolls on, Trumpâs history publicly pursuing his detractors indicates that this battle will see more airtime very soon.

Killer Mike has become a vital Hip Hop representative when it comes to discussions about injustice, police brutality, and racism. The Atlanta-based rapper has addressed those topics as one half of Run The Jewels, a guest on CNN, a lecturer at M.I.T, and a columnist for Vox. Mike returned to television to once again speak on relevant social topics. He stopped by the PBS program The Tavis Smiley Show. The conversation included Mike and Smiley debating the idea of African-Americans offering forgiveness for racial discrimination. After we reconcile, why dont I own any of the land? Why does De Beers...

Sunday on CBSs Face the Nation, PBS host Tavis Smiley said uprisings and riots are the new normal and will happen a lot more unless America addresses poverty in the inner city which he said is becoming a national security problem. Smiley said, What do we see in Baltimore and Ferguson and beyond, racism, poverty and militarism. So Poverty is clearly connected to this. My sense is that this is going to become the new normal. These kinds of uprisings and riots will happen a lot more if we cant get serious about jobs, jobs, jobs with a living wage...

I guess this should be filed in the "Washington Politics" thread ... I'm an African American registered Democrat. I don't mind giving conservative Republicans hell when they deserve it. But unlike many conservative, I don't mind speaking out against my Party when I think they are wrong and encouraging them to do the right thing. Anyway, white liberals are having fits about the article posted below, which was written by me and published on my blog, in Black newspapers across the country, and at the liberal Daily Kos blog. I'm posting the article here because I'd like to have some...

PBS's Tavis Smiley made a comment Thursday that every African-American as well as liberal media member should sit up and take notice. Appearing on Fox News's Hannity, Smiley said, "The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

While speaking on Smiley & West, his radio show with co-host Tavis Smiley, Cornel West praised the Supreme Court's ruling last week on gay marriage but complained that "we black folk are just being pushed to the back of the bus in terms of our visibility," the Washington Times reports.

On Friday, television and radio host Tavis Smiley celebrated the 10th anniversary of his Tavis Smiley show on PBS and defended his right to critique President Obama, reports the Huffington Post (sic The AP). But Smiley says freedom of speech hasn't come without its price.Smiley contends that members of the Obama administration, whom he didn't identify, have pressured sponsors to drop their support of his projects, including his anti-poverty initiatives. The White House had no comment, said a spokesman, Kevin Lewis. Smiley declined to identify the companies, saying he wasn't authorized to disclose their names. SNIP (More from the AP...

Princeton University Professor Dr. Cornel West appeared on the Tavis Smiley radio show on Thursday where he weighed in with his thoughts on how the media and lawmakers are responding to the tragic massacre of teachers and children in Newtown, Connecticut. West expressed his frustration over how eagerly the media demanded a conversation about gun laws after Newtown, but seems unmoved by endemic gun violence in Americas cities where the victims are primarily minorities. We cant just shed tears for those on the vanilla side of town, West said. They are precious, but they are no less or more precious...

Despite some commentators giddy excitement about President Barack Obamas reelection, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West took a different stand, calling out the president for some of the shortcomings of his administration and his reelection campaign on the issue of poverty. Of course, Smiley and West have their own critics, in part due to Wests occasional propensity to use highly charged language, such as his 2010 contention that Obamas policies led to racist effects. Speaking on Amy Goodmans Democracy Now! show, Smiley and West tore into the president. Calling Obama a Rockefeller Republican in blackface, West charged that its morally obscene...

Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer found that on his Sunday public-radio show with socialist professor Cornel West, PBS host Tavis Smiley thumped Obama chief of staff Valerie Jarrett for an apparently rude speech at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in New Orleans onÂ June 23. She came to describe Obama's "genuine love for black people," which Smiley thought was ridiculous since Obama did not show up. Several NABJ vets did complain to blogger Richard Prince about Jarrett reading a list of Obama accomplishments: "Why not just send a [campaign] video?" one said. "That was out of line," said...